In Thomas Reid's Spatan Band he lists an ancestor of mine
Dempsey James Burton "removed to the custody of the
Sherriff of Houston County ." (for murder) However he wrote letters to his family from the Provost office in Little Rock. On his head stone in Shiloh Cemetary near Troy
Texas he is listed as a member of the 13th and was at Sabine Cross Roads and Jenkins Ferry (both 1n 1864) The next reference I can find is his marriage in 1866 in an area near Coldsprings Texas in San Jacinto County known
to be a hideout for outlaws, fugitive slaves, draft dodgers, & unionist during the Civil war. All this hasn't added up. At some point did he rejoin his company and
indeed fight in the above battle. After the war his profession is listed a "doctor" He claimed to graduated
from Tulane University. My Aunt claimed to see a diploma from Tulane dated 1859 at a family reunion in the 60's
Tulane has no record of him ever enroled or graduated.
I did find records for a sister who immigrated from Ireland
through New Orleans. He listed his birthplace as Crockett
Texas. He practiced medicine in Texas until his death in 1911. Yet no official records of that. Family members
claimed he was a surgeon during the civil war. No evidence
of this either. I am beginning to believe he might be
"black Irish" or a con man. Can anyone help me with this
mystery in my family tree?